Digital world makes change necessary for The Gazette in 2012 -- again

Those iPads, Kindles and Nooks that were so new only two years ago are catching on as their prices become more reasonable, I noted in my Sunday, Feb. 26, column in The Gazette.

My reference point is the Pew Internet & American Life Project report issued last month, which showed the number of Americans owning either a tablet computer or an e-book reader almost doubled after Christmas, from 10 percent in December to 19 percent in January.

It looks as though 2012 is going to be a big year for e-readers. We are working furiously at The Gazette to make sure we are on board with the rest of you, providing a useful way to read our news and information on that electronic device to which you are becoming attached.

We've had a mobile site, GazetteToGo.com, for some time and added a mobile app as that technology emerged but want to expand on what we've done. Development is taking place now. Our hope is that you will see useful changes this spring and throughout the year with our mobile and tablet products, with more features that are friendly with however you read our content electronically.

Meantime, we continually are adapting TheGazette.com and its related websites – Business380.com and HooplaNow.com, for example – to keep them relevant for you. We expect to have a few things to roll out in the next few months but our effort will be ongoing throughout the year.

We also are working on ways to spruce up The Gazette printed newspaper. We are analyzing the changing habits of people who read our paper, but also newspapers in general.

Where this leads depends upon what you tell us about the expectations you have when you encounter The Gazette. But expect changes in the coming year in how we present our news and advertising in print. We are looking at how we design pages, cover topics you say are important, and display features you say make reading the newspaper a pleasurable experience.

These changes are being contemplated because we continually want to make sure we are giving you the finest journalism and commercial information available in the Corridor. This will be change for an intended good, not for change's sake.

Our plate certainly is full this year. I'll keep you up to date in this space as changes are made. More certainly is to come.